Political Quotes

“as President Bush makes his decision about sending troops to Haiti, I wish that he would look at Haiti's history and would look at the history of our relationship with Haiti. 210 years ago, Haiti was a nation as wealthy as the 13 Colonies. After a slave revolt, Haiti in the early part of the next century, in 1804, proclaimed its independence. Our government, a country with slave owners, would not recognize the government of Haiti, a country where slaves were now running the government, running the country, former slaves. We did not recognize them for more than 50 years; and then, Mr. Speaker, the United States Marines, in the early part of this century, occupied Haiti. Some years later, when Papa Doc and Baby Doc Duvalier were in power in Haiti, U.S. interests funded and propped his government up, a bloody dictatorship. So now that President Aristide is in power, Mr. Speaker, we need to recognize this democracy. We have to deal with that as a democracy of equals.”